The 2006 Yamaha YZF-R1 LE livery, which was a yellow, black, and white homage to Kenny Roberts Sr., is perhaps the greatest livery ever to adorn an R1, straight from the Yamaha factory. Whether you are a loyal subject of King Kenny, or you just enjoy the fetching, yet simple, racing design, the Roberts livery is a treasure to see in any form — but especially so at speed. Giving us a glimpse as to what the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 would look like with such a limited edition paint scheme, Oberdan Bezzi has once again whet our appetite ahead of a weekend full of riding. And for you Giacomo Agostini fans, there is something special waiting for you after the jump as well. Enjoy!

After first showing us the Honda SFA and Honda CRF250 Rally concepts, Big Red made good on its promise for another motorcycle concept premiere at the Osaka Motorcycle Show, debuting the Honda Bulldog concept. With the face of a Ruckus, and built to “leisurely” take-on the great outdoors in an unassuming manor, the Honda Bulldog is a stout off-roader that adds a new slant to the term adventure-bike. With wide 15″ knobby tires, a 28″ seat height, and 400cc parallel-twin engine mated to a six-speed gearbox, the Bulldog certainly isn’t what you expect to see bombing down the trails, yet it sorta makes sense.

If you believe the reports coming out of India and Southeast Asia, Yamaha is working on a naked version of its YZF-R25 sport bike. Presumably to be call the Yamaha MT-25, the naked bike would continue Yamaha’s trend of making naked version of its fully faired sport bikes, similar to the recently released Yamaha MT-125 that is available for the European market. With images of the machine testing on public roads abounding, the MT-25 seems likely to see production, so the real intrigue will be in what markets Yamaha makes the machine available. With Honda already offering faired (Honda CBR300R) and unfaired versions (Honda CB300F) of its small-displacement motorcycle in the US, Yamaha could easily go head-to-head with Big Red with the YZF-R3 and an FZ-03 variant, based off the R3 design.

Need further proof that the future of motorcycling will include electrics? Take this recently published patent application from Kawasaki, that the Japanese OEM filed for back in 2011. The claims are fairly rudimentary, though they do include a transmission, with Kawasaki’s lawyers mostly outlining the basics of a motorcycle powered by an electric motor, of course the news is less about the contents of the patent application, and more about the fact that it was applied for, in the first place. When will we see an electric motorcycle concept from Kawasaki is anyone’s guess, though there are two big motorcycle shows coming up in Japan in a couple weeks’ time. In reality, we doubt we’ll see something so soon from Kawasaki, but if the Kawasaki H2 has shown us anything, it is that anything is possible from Kawasaki right now.

Why would KTM be riding around on a camouflaged Aprilia Tuono V4? That is the question of the day, after a spy photographer caught the Austrian company testing in Spain with such a machine. The answer of course points to KTM working on a V4 street bike platform, which shouldn’t be too surprising since KTM CEO Stefan Pierer already tipped the media off to the fact that it is working on a MotoGP entry that would be based around a beastly V4 engine called the RC16. While Pierer confirmed the MotoGP, as well as a track-only consumer version of the GP bike, zie Austrians have been mum about other motorcycles in KTM’s lineup sharing the new V4 powerplant.

Adventure riders, you prayers have been answered. Honda is set to debut a new off-road model at the Osaka Motorcycle Show, the Honda CRF250 Rally. Based off the Honda CRF250L platform, the Rally concept is basically the CRF250L with rally-styled bodywork. The Honda CRF250 Rally concept will get its worldwide debut alongside the Honda True Adventure concept, which we first saw at last year’s EICMA show. This makes for an interesting dichotomy, as the CRF250 Rally is set to look like the CRF450 Rally race bike, while the True Adventure (cough, Africa Twin, cough) borrows heavily from the race bike’s technology package. With Honda showing a 250cc ADV model and a 1,000cc model at the same show, one has to wonder when a consumer-level version of the CRF450 Rally race bike will be ready as well.

After it first debuted in Indonesia last October, the Honda SFA concept motorcycle seems to be getting serious, as Honda will be showing the up-market bike at this weekend’s Osaka Motorcycle Show and next weekend’s Tokyo Motorcycle Show. While Honda only mentions that the SFA concept is a “street-fighter style light-weight motorcycle with a single cylinder engine mounted on a trellis frame,” sources in Indonesia say the fetching small-displacement machine is built around the 150cc CB150R for that market. Whether this means that Honda will make more premium-focused 150cc machines, and bring them to markets outside of Asia remains to be seen, though it is clear that the Japanese firm is taking such an approach under serious consideration.

Italy’s favorite boutique brand will be back at the Isle of Man TT races this year, with a two rider team that includes American Brandon Cretu. Cretu and his teammate Ben Wylie will campaign for Bimota at the big four road races (North West 200, Isle of Man TT, Ulster Grand Prix, and Macau GP) on-board the Bimota BB3 superbike. This is not the first time that Cretu and Wylie have raced together, having shared a pit while at the Wylie Racing team during the 2011 and 2012 Isle of Man TT races. Though the Bimota BB3 was ruled ineligible for FIM events, the international road racing scene has no hang-ups letting the S1000RR-powered superbikes lineup on the starting grid.

We are still waiting for the 2015 MV Agusta F4 RC to break cover officially, but the top-of-the-line superbike from Varese continues to make itself sneakily available to the public. First there were the leaked studio photos, which looked spot-on to the photos MV Agusta USA teased us with at its press launch earlier this year. Now, we have more photos of the F4 RC leaking, though with some changes to the design — namely more prominent “AMG” badging, for MV Agusta’s newest minority partner. The 2015 MV Agusta F4 RC isn’t supposed to arrive at dealerships until June 2015; and when it does, it will be in limited numbers. The F4 RC is MV Agusta’s homologation special for World Superbike and domestic superbike racing classes.

Aprilia Racing boss Romano Albesiano has big shoes to fill. Taking over from Gigi Dall’Igna, Albesiano must continue the legacy of success which his predecessor left for him. He got off to a good start, Sylvain Guintoli lifting the World Superbike title in Albesiano’s first year at the helm. Now comes the hard part, following up on that success and expanding into MotoGP. A small group of journalists spoke to Albesiano at the Aprilia launch in Milan. In a wide-ranging conversation, the Aprilia boss covered many topics, including explaining why the Noale firm came back to MotoGP a year ahead of schedule, touching on what the new bike Aprilia is working on for 2016 and beyond might look like, and the 2016 rules in MotoGP.

Team riders David Checa, Kenny Foray, and Mathieu Gines finished second at the series opener at Bol d’Or. The team also had a strong 9th place finish at Suzuka, the third fastest full-time team at the Japanese race. At both Germany and Le Mans, Yamaha Racing GMT 94 team podiumed in second place — solidifying its Championship position through consistency.

Left uncleaned from its Le Mans finish, GMT 94’s endurance-spec Yamaha YZF-R1 is off to the museum…the French take the EWC very seriously. You can believe that Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki will be looking to give Yamaha a proper run at the Championship defense in 2015.

You may have seen this image in a PHOTO.GP post a while back, one that wondered what this item is. The label reads Intertechnique Pressure Reducer and at PHOTO.GP we’ve speculated about what exactly this apparatus does when placed atop the Yamaha YZR-M1. We’ve come to refer to it as The Black Box.

The photo above is from 2013, and I’ve been wondering about this item at least since Mugello of last season. But only recently did I take steps to find out just what it is.

The fact is that while I wander up and down pit lane as someone who understands, at least in relation to the level of technology on display in MotoGP, only the basics of how motorcycles work, I frequently see exotic bits of engineering that are utter mysteries to me.

Adopting class structures that fit in line with the rules and regulations found in the World Superbike Championship, MotoAmerica’s goal is once again to flood the international road racing scene with talented American riders.

Talking a little about that philosophy, with a healthy Yamaha commercial in the middle of it all, Rainey helps set the table to what American road racing fans have been waiting to hear for a long time. A stronger racing series domestically, and a path to see Americans competing at the highest levels of the sport internationally.

While the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M was being debuted in Milan, Italy at a star-studded press event, Yamaha Motor USA invited a group of journalists down to southern California to experience the new liter bike first-hand — Asphalt & Rubber was among those attending.

For anyone who has been up-close with the Yamaha YZR-M1, Yamaha’s MotoGP bike, then there are obvious design cues that you can see carried over to the new street bike. The airbox cover is gilled, the air intake is squared, with the pointy nose slightly covering it, making it look like a collapsed pentagon.

Indeed, Yamaha is trying to draw distinctions between the new R1 and its sophisticated M1 race bike. The electronics package on the latter has certainly helped in developing the 2015 Yamaha R1, taking the Tuning Fork brand as having one of the least sophisticated superbike, to now one of the most sophisticated.

A bike that we know has been coming down the pipe for quite some while, the 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 (or the Yamaha MT-09 Tracer, as our European readers will know it) is finally a reality. No more trademark applications, no more CARB filings, no more leakedphotos, the budget-minded three-cylinder sport-tourer is here, debuting at the EICMA show today.

As expected, the Yamaha FJ-09 is based off the Yamaha FZ-09 platform, gaining longer suspension pieces and more touring features for its purpose. The windscreen, handlebars, and seat are all adjustable, allowing one to tailor the ride to their preferences. And with a 4.8 gallon fuel tank, that ride can go quite some distance.

Like the FZ-09, the FJ-09 comes with a ride-by-wire throttle, ABS brakes, traction control, and adjustable riding modes. Yamaha also has a range of accessories for the Yamaha FJ-09, helping riders add luggage and other touring items to the new sport-tourer.

Available in either Matte Grey or Candy Red, the 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 will be available in the USA and Canada. American riders can expect the new FJ-09 to be in dealers in November 2014, with a price tag of $10,490 MSRP.

While the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 is pretty impressive in its own right, the folks at Iwata weren’t content to let things be, and thus have produced the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M. An exclusive extension of the R1, Yamaha calls the R1M the closest thing there is to the company’s GP machine, the Yamaha YZR-M1.

Featuring the same 200hp “CP4″ crossplane 998cc inline-four engine as the base model, Yamaha has added Öhlins’ ERS semi-active suspension pieces to the superbike, along with carbon fiber fairings, and a robust GPS-powered data acquisition system.

As expected, and leaked earlier today, the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 has broken cover at the EICMA show in Milan.

An all new machine from Yamaha, the new YZF-R1 is a giant leap forward from Yamaha, with its eyes squarely on dominating the race track, throughout all racing leagues.

At the core of the new R1 is a new crossplane motor, now dubbed the CP4 engine, which is producing 200hp without ram-air.

The engine features titanium fracture-split con-rods, 10.5 liter airbox, titanium exhaust, and a slipper clutch to boot. For the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 though, the story is really all about the electronics.

The 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 has leaked ahead of its EICMA debut today…with two images of the superbike hitting the interwebs just a few hours ago. The model shows obvious lines from the Yamaha MotoGP bike, the YZR-M1; and is expected to come in two trim levels, one for the street, and the other for racing purposes.

We should know more about the new R1 in a few hours, but until then, we will have to chew on these first photos. Accordingly, we’re not so sure about the headlights, though they look verrrry easy to remove, which might be a salient feature for them, on a homologation special.